Mozart and Denny

This is what's happening in Cape Town...Somerset West.

I used to live in Somerset West...a beautiful spot, Helderberg Mountain, close to Strand and Gordon's Bay, great golf course, and many positive features. Nothing could be more peaceful and pleasant, even the drive into Cape Town everyday was pleasant with free flowing traffic.

Now the Cape is a hell-hole...just look at this 'Chaos' on N2 as 'land grabbers' burn shops and attack vehicles | News24

Terribly sad...it's Paradise Lost...for ever. We were planning to move to the Western Cape sometime ago because Natal has become a shit-hole but nothing like this.

And Mike, everybody laughed at you when opted to go to the Overberg, except Draad and me.

The big question in SA where can you now live in relative peace maintaining a reasonable lifestyle...even Knysna is becoming a rat hole.

Maybe the Cederberg, Clanwilliam...I know it well when it was just a dorpie but it's a beautiful area.

You were wise to leave.

Seb.....I had no choice. For yonks I missed home, as a matter of fact a month after migrating I said to the wife let's go back...she replied, I can, you can't.

But ja I hear you, the place is a shithole, clearly the African can't govern. 

Things have improved over here, our boerie is better than yours, Mrs Balls chutney rules and mango atchar is perfect with every curry. Billie is that popular it's now selling in supermarkets.

Snoek would be great but Atlantic Salmon and Barramundi is not too shabby.

There were some more trouble on the N2 today. There and closer to town. I'ts how politics work in South Africa. Less than a month to go to the election...Seb, there are still lots of calmer areas in the Cape Town area. They almost never burn tyres on the N1 near CT and very few taxis. Depends on where you are. Not a sh!thole yet, but there are a few rotten spots.

but tinged with nostalgia.

So true, had tears in my eyes on a visit to the D6 museum....same again on Robbe n Island.

Draad

The present unrest is to my mind stirred up as a political vehicle to regain support in areas hwerhe they lost in the municipal elections in 2016.

We will see this happening until  8 May 2019  - thereafter it may continue when the ANC keeps on buggering up, but on a less-organized basis. .    

Mike don't forget with high unemployment there's a helluva lot of people with time on their hands.

Hey Mike what do you think of the Cape Party. 

I hear they want to secede from the rest of the country. Apparently the WC pays more to Central Govt than it gets back. 

Frankly I think we would do well on our own. 

O boy did I love Hermanus and in fact all that coast up to Arniston...yes perfect fishing villages and did ear mark these places to evently retire to but I was horrified to see the change in Hermanus of late...land invasions, in Hermanus of all places.

Yes the Cape is still beautiful but the atmosphere of open country beauty and freedom seems to be edging away. It's heart-breaking.

Taxi wars in what I knew as quaint little Hout Bay is another nail in the coffin of the Cape's death...what is all this riffraff and driftwood doing in Houtbay. Simonstown too another little place in the sun, ruined. Even up at Knysna crime is rife.

At least I knew these places at their best and I guess I must be thankful for that but where is there a good place where one can relax and be free from crime.

What happened to District Six was one of the saddest chapters. 

True Moz, it was very sad. There was a downside to D6 with the skolly element but the positives far outweighed the downside. Everyone was evicted, whether you were a landowner or not. Muslims and Christians lived side by side in harmony in a tight community. They retained some of the schools and churches and also a mosque. Harold Cressy High the school which I attended is still there, so is Trafalgar High and Zonnebloem which sits at the foot of Walmer Estate. The school my father was principal of, George Golding Primary, is also still there and so to is the Moravian Church of which our family were parishioners. 

Our house had wonderful location, stepping out the front door and there was Table Mountain and Lions Head in full view, cross the street and you'd be at the foot of the mountain, turn 180 degrees and you'd be staring down at Table Bay. I was never quite sure which view was better....nightime or daytime If I had to make a choice the night view was spectacular.